Bulldogs will see an old rival in the third round of the GHSA State Tourney

In their first two series of the AA GHSA State Tournament the Toombs County Bulldogs faced two teams that no recent history with and they defeated both Laney and Banks County in two games. Up next in the Elite 8 round is Dodge County- a team which the Bulldogs have plenty of history with including a split of two Region 1 AAA games last season.

The 2017 Dodge County Indians finished second in Region 3 with a 9-3 record, three games behind 12-0 Bleckley County. The 24-7 Indians swept Fitzgerald 4-0 and 17-2, in Eastman, in round one and then, at Callaway, they knocked off a number one team 8-2 and 3-2.

The 16-13 Bulldogs have won 10 games in a row while the Indians have won 15 out of their last 16 including five in a row since a 4-3 loss at Bleckley County. The 16-13 Bulldogs have won 10 games in a row while the Indians have won 15 out of their last 16 including five in a row since a 4-3 loss at Bleckley County.

Game one of the best-of-three third round series will begin Wednesday, May 10 at 4:30 p.m. in Eastman. The second game will follow approximately 30 minutes later and if the two teams split the third game will be in Eastman at 4:30 on May 11. All the games will air on Y-101 Radio and Mixlr.

The Indians are batting .343 with a .457 on base percentage. Dodge has bit 51 doubles and 10 homers. Chandler Davis leads the team with a .531 batting average and a .651 on base percentage. The junior has hit six doubles and two home runs and has driven in 23 runs through 27 games. Davis hit a grand slam against Fitzgerald in the opening round of the playoffs.

Last season against the Bulldogs Davis went 2-for-3 with a double, a strikeout and a runs scored in Lyons and 1-for-3 in Eastman. Last season against the Bulldogs Davis went 2-for-3 with a double, a strikeout and a runs scored in Lyons and 1-for-3 in Eastman.

On the mound Craig Barton was 6-4 through his first 10 starts with a 1.98 ERA and 53 strikeouts and 18 walks. Barton pitched a complete game against Fitzgerald in the opening round of the playoffs and surrendered only three hits with 10 strikeouts and one walk.

Last season, in Eastman, he pitched the Indians to a 3-1 win over Toombs County. Barton allowed five hits and one earned run in a seven inning complete game on 96 pitches. He struck out six Bulldogs without allowing a walk. D.R. Meadows went 2-for-4 and scored a first inning run on a RBI single by Nick Curtis. George went 1-for-3 with a single and Logan McGowan stroked a double. Curtis and McGowan graduated in 2016. Lane Adams, Kyle Knight, Brock Harrison and Bryce Deloach all hit against Barton.

Two Bulldog hitters bring double-digit hitting streaks into the series at Dodge County. George Lucke has a career-high 11 game hitting streak in which he is batting .488. The senior center fielder is hitting .391 and he leads the team in RBI with 31. Lucke is batting .429 in the state playoffs with five RBI. George has a history of making amazing catches in Eastman. In 2015 he made a diving snag in foul territory from his left field position and last season he made one of his best catches ever. From center field Lucke ran full speed, collided with the fence and caught the ball.

Sophomore third baseman Brock Harrison is hitting .500 during his career-high 10 game hitting streak and in the state tourney he his batting .444 with six RBI and seven runs scored.

The hottest Bulldogs in the post season are Martin Stephens (.727 with a triple, a double and eight RBI) and Lane Adams (.667 with three doubles).

The Bulldogs are hitting .353 in the postseason and .277 for the entire season.

Toombs County versus Dodge County

The Bulldogs and Indians have played some close games over the years

2016

Bulldogs start second half of subregion schedule with 3-1 loss at Dodge

TCHS Bulldogs pull out a nine inning win over Dodge County

For the second time in two weeks Toombs County senior pitcher Tyler Luke pitched a one-hitter and his Bulldogs didn’t win the game. Two weeks to date of his nine inning one-hitter home loss to Islands, Luke pitched a six inning one-hitter at Dodge and once again TCHS lost by a single run, this time it was 1-0.

In his four 2015 starts Luke has pitched 27 1/3 innings and has allowed only 12 hits and five earned runs. His earned run average is 1.01 and opponents are batting .126 against the right-hander. Tyler’s record is 0-2 with two no decisions. He had a no decsion against Vidalia in which he pitched 5 1/3 and left with the Bulldogs leading 4-1 and he took a no decision at Jenkins. In that game he pitched seven innings of five-hit ball and allowed one earned run with nine strikeouts and no walks. He left the game with the scored tied at one and TCHS lost 2-1 in the eighth on a pass ball.

Luke’s mound opponent was just as tough on the Dawgs. Lance Pruett yielded two hits and no walks while striking out eight Toombs County batters.

Both teams broke up a double no-hitter in the fourth inning. TCHS leadoff hitter D.R. Meadows (1-for-3) led off the top of the inning smacking the first pitch down the third base line and off the bag for the first hit of the game. Lane Adams laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to the right of home plate advancing Meadows to second and a grounder moved him to third where he was stranded.

In the bottom of the fourth Luke walked Cain Petersen- the third of four Indians who received a free pass. Chandler Davis (1-for-2 with a walk) singled and then, with Peterson at third, Clint Thompson hit a sacrifice fly to center to score the only run of the game.

The Bulldogs had one more scoring opportunity. In the fifth, with two outs, senior Cole Dowd (1-for-2), who was starting his first varsity baseball game, worked the count to 3-2 and then smashed a pitch into the gap in right field for a double. Pruitt took over from that point and retired the next seven Bulldogs in a row to end the subregion game. The Bulldogs are 1-8 and 0-1. Toombs has lost four one-run games- all with Luke as the starting pitcher.

2012

Dawgs tie one and lose one

In their Diamond Day at Jacky Jones Field, the Toombs County Bulldogs played to a 1-all, seven inning draw with Dodge County and then let a 5-0 lead get away in the final two innings as they lost to East Laurens 12-5.

Game One- The Bulldogs loaded the bases in the first inning on an error and two walks. However, Jordan Smith, Dodge County’s starting pitcher struck out the the Dawgs four, five and six hitters to end the threat. Smith struck out the first two hitters in the second to give him five straight K’s. For the second straight game the Bulldogs didn’t stroke a hit in their first two innings. In fact Efrain Quinterro ended Smith’s no-hitter with one-out in the fourth on a single to right field that bounced off Jordan Perdue’s face. Freshman Ben Brantley stroked his first varsity hit and put the Bulldogs up 1-0 with a double to left center field that hit the fence on a bounce. The Bulldogs would stroke just one more hit in the game in the seventh inning on a two-out single by senior Trey Wingate.

Dodge County tied the game in the fifth on an amazing at bat by Perdue, the leadoff hitter. He fouled off nine pitches from reliever Jeremy Beasley before finally getting hit by a pitch on a 3-2 offering, with the bases loaded, to push across the tying run.

2010

TCHS Bulldogs repeat as Region 3B Champs

King homers and strikes out 14 in 8 inning thriller

For the second straight year the Toombs County Bulldogs clinched the Region 3B title by beating Dodge County on the last day of the subregion season. Javec King hit a solo homer in the fourth, reached on a two-out error in the eighth that allowed Patrick Craft to score and the senior pitched a complete game four-hitter with 14 strikeouts as Toombs held off Dodge 2-1 in eight thrilling innings in Eastman.

King’s fifth home run of the season came with one out in the fourth as he smashed the ball over the center field fence. The Indians tied the game at one in the bottom of the inning when their pitcher Clint Taylor doubled to right center scoring Christian Miller, who singled with one out. The Bulldogs had two chances to take the lead in regulation. However, they left a runner at third in the sixth and made an out at third in the seventh.

Patrick Craft led off the eighth with a double to left field and moved to third on a grounder and then he scored when King hit a grounder to short and the throw to first was way off the bag. In the bottom of the eighth Brandon Beckam led off with a walk and he was eliminated at second when third baseman Josh Allen dove to his left and fielded a grounder and then threw to second base for the second out of the inning. The game’s final out was recorded at third when Allen caught a pick off throw from King and then put on the tag to end an intense classic game.

King improved his record to 8-0 by pitching the final seven innings from the stretch. He walked two in the first and then made the change in his delivery and walked just two more the rest of the way. He also struck out two batters in each of the first seven innings. The Bulldogs are 20-1 and 10-0 in Region 3B.

Bulldogs storm back in the 7th inning

In winning 41 of their last 50 games dating back to the end of the 2008 season the Toombs County Bulldogs have pulled of quite a few amazing comebacks. However, none was more improbable than the Bulldogs 6-5 home win over Dodge County. Toombs entered the bottom of the seventh with just three hits off starter Brandon Beck.

With one down Stacy Cheshire jumped on the first pitch and singled. Brett Jernigan followed with another single and then Patrick Craft doubled in Cheshire to make it 5-2. Lance Mosley’s grounder to second base made it 5-3 and Josh Allen, who went 3-for-4 with two runs batted in, singled to pull the Dawgs to within a run with two outs. Javec King singled by the the Indians shortstop to tie the game and then Berry Aldridge competed the comeback with a backside single to right center field to give the Bulldogs their third comeback victory in a week. Watch the 7th inning with head coach Brian Fitzgerald Video and watch with Y-101 play-by-play Video

Javec King (5-0) pitched a complete game and struck out 10 while allowing five hits and no walks. All the runs scored by Dodge were unearned as the Bulldogs made six errors against the Indians’ bunting offense. The win gives TCHS (14-1) the lead in Region 3B with a 5-0 record. Dodge is 4-1.

2009

The Bulldogs are Region 3B champs!

King throws 2-hitter & Rodgers drives in 2 runs

In their second attempt the Toombs County Bulldogs won the Region 3B title with a combination of dominant pitching by Javec King and timely hitting by Neal Rodgers. Rodgers singled to center field in the first and fourth innings to give the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead and King pitched a complete game two-hitter with 10 strikeouts and just one walk as the Bulldogs beat Dodge County 3-1 in Lyons. King is 6-1 and he has now pitched back-to-back two hitters against Dublin and Dodge. The Bulldogs are 16-5 and they finish their sub region schedule with an 8-2 record.

2008

Bulldogs give and take in 10-9 win at Dodge County

In losses to Pierce County and Bleckley County, the Toombs County Bulldogs opened up big leads only to watch them slip away as those potential victories turned into tough loses. In Eastman the Bulldogs built up a 9-1 lead on a Justin Adams two-run home run in the first inning and Neal Rodgers’ three-run homer in the third and solo blast in the fourth.

Dodge County scored eight straight runs and tied the game at nine in the bottom of the sixth on a RBI hit by Jared Reaves. The Bulldogs pulled out their first region win when Blake Chaulkley singled in Lonzo Skinner with one-out in the seventh to give TCHS a 10-9 victory. Trey Mosley, working in relief of Rodgers, was the winning pitcher.